Non-union College staff members hired on or before March 1 will receive a 2 percent wage increase effective this summer, Justin Anderson, director of media relations for the College, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Due to an existing contract signed with the Service Employees International Union Local 560 in Summer 2010, however, the pay increase will not apply to SEIU members, Anderson said.
The College will also offer a retirement incentive option for staff members age 55 years or older who have at least 10 years of experience at the College, according to Anderson. The incentive plan will contain a lump sum payment equivalent to nine months' pay, Anderson said.
In 2010, 115 employees 81 non-union and 34 union opted for a program offering the same terms, marking an increase from 2009, when 79 employees 64 non-union and 15 union elected to participate, Anderson said in an email to The Dartmouth. The College expects to replace approximately 70 percent of the individuals who take advantage of this option, Anderson said. The last time an early retirement incentive was offered, the College filled 37 percent of those positions, according to Anderson.
The College's contract with SEIU, set to expire in June 2012, does not include a wage increase provision. Union members will, however, be eligible for the early retirement program, according to Anderson.
Temporary employees and those who have been placed by their supervisors on a "Performance Improvement Plan" will also be ineligible for the pay increase, according to an email sent Thursday to all College employees from Provost Carol Folt, Executive Vice President Steven Kadish and acting Vice President for Human Resources Lynn Baker that was obtained by The Dartmouth.
Approximately 2,650 of the College's 3,050 staff members will receive the wage increase, effective on June 19 for hourly staff and July 1 for salaried staff, Anderson said. The non-union staff members will also be eligible to receive additional merit-based funds, to be allocated by division chairs, Anderson said.
Anderson said he was unable to provide an estimate of the total cost of the wage increases by press time.
Although the Union does not have a wage increase provision in its contract with the College, Earl Sweet, president of the SEIU, expressed concern that College officials had been "dishonest" in its negotiations with SEIU.
"The reason we didn't negotiate for any raises [in 2010] was because they had us believing they were in a financial crisis," Sweet said. "I don't think they negotiated in good faith with us when they told us over and over again at the contract table there would be no raises in the next few years because of [the budget] problem."
The College had not anticipated implementing wage increases when it negotiated with SEIU last summer, according to Anderson. College President Jim Yong Kim, Folt and various other senior College officials made the final decision on the raise program this week, Anderson said.
The wage increase recently became a priority and the College is trying to be "fair and equitable with the entire workforce" in its implementation of salary increases, Anderson said.
"It was not easy to do," he said. "It was not something in the budget that we had planned to do, it was just something that President Kim and Provost Folt wanted to do."
Union employees are guaranteed protection against layoffs during the term of the two-year contract a provision that is not offered to non-union employees, Anderson said.
Under the contract, the College also pays for the health insurance plans of unionized employees who elect single coverage, The Dartmouth previously reported.
"There were periods when the union received pay increases as was spelled out in their contract when non-union staff did not," Anderson said. "It's not unheard of for one group to get a wage increase and another group not to get a wage increase."
Sweet said he believed Tuesday's Students Stand with Staff rally impacted the College's decision to provide the wage increases, but said that he could not be certain. Approximately 100 students, staff and community members gathered on the steps of Collis to protest the recent cuts to health care benefits for the College's staff, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Anderson said there was no connection between the wage increases and the rally.
